On their 2nd album, Cemetary made a notable departure from the pure death metal style they exhibited on 'An Evil Shade of Gray'. Here Matthias Lodmalm and the original Cemetary lineup have turned towards their melodic doom/rock style. I've heard a lot of people compare this to Paradise Lost, but it really sounds nothing alike. The vocals are the in the same gruff style that Lodmalm would carry onto the next 3 albums, although he doesn't use much of the more clean vocals he's used recently (in Sundown and Cemetary 1213). A lot of the songs here are very simple, "Now She Walks in Shadows" opens the album with an upbeat gait, which sounds almost too silly, but the music takes a turn for doom in "The Serpent's Kiss". Several of the songs here are among the most memorable Cemetary tracks I've heard, in particular "Julie is No More" with an attractive choral melody and a well-timed sample, and classic doom metal staples like "By My Own Hand" and "Adrift in Scarlet Twilight". There a couple of better up-tempo tunes as well ("Chain" and "Sunrise Never Again"). Overall, a solid effort and a successful transformation for this band, the previous album wasn't bad but it did little to separate them from the legions of Swedish death metal at the time. With this, Cemetary were set to forge out upon their own.

© 2000 pizarro